Crushed

Fresh as a daisy

It was already nine-fifteen, the sun was peeking through my window blinds, birds were singing in the tree just outside my window and I could hear our neighborhood dogs faintly barking. That's how I started the day in my new room. I guess I thought Cape Town, or more specifically, 'Tamboerskloof' would be louder than what I don't hear now. I hopped out of bed, opening my window along with the blinds for some fresh air to wake my room up. As I looked outside my window I mindlessly welcome this new beginning into my life.

Dad got this amazing offer at work, but it meant we had to pack up and move closer to his new working position in Cape Town. I was happy for him, even if it meant leaving all my 'friends' and having to start all over again, that too, in a whole other country. I mean, I wasn't popular, but I wasn't a nobody. I just kept to myself, being an in-betweener. There were like at least two people who had a thing for me in school, I just wasn't quite interested as I never really focused on guys...well, except for my childhood crush who I wished made a move on me, even if it was by mistake. Never happened. It was probably for the best as we would've parted ways anyway, but let me introduce myself. The name's Ruby, Ruby O'conner and I'm a 17yr old senior transfer at Rocklands International High. A school which I haven't even heard of, that's how private they were. Thanks to my geekish ways I got in, I guess I'm lucky.

As I stood in my new room, a week before the school year started, I thought of how I wanted to start the end of my highschool life. Looking at my not so princessy clothes, "Normal it is!"

It really was not the worst thing that could've happened to me, on the contrary, I couldn't be more happier. I didn't really have any good friends, just the math group kids that I had to hang out with because of our yearly math competition. My best friend moved away more than 3 years ago, they were more upperclassmen than we were, but it was never noticeable. Her dad loved me as his own, because I practically grew up in his house. We used to have slumber parties every weekend, if not at their place, it was at mine. We were inseparable, that is until they moved. It was a lot to handle when they moved away, not only did I lose my best and only friend, but I also lost my first crush...her older brother. He was everything! He was the over protective and annoying older brother, but he was undeniably also the intelligent and frustratingly hot guy with a side of danger that every girl wanted to be bad for. I'd always get lost in between teases imagining he only did it to get my attention, I'm lame, I know. He's three years ahead of us, and therefore ruined every chance we had of being boy crazy at the age of fourteen. I think he abused his power a little too much, and enjoyed manipulating his dad to not let us go out to carnivals, movies, camps and park dates. Sometimes I used to cover for him, explaining why it might be a bad idea to go. His sister Mya, could never understand why, until one night at our tree house when she asked if I liked her brother, "Ruby be honest with me, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Are you crushing on Kyle? And don't even try to avoid the question, I've noticed how you back him up every time he plots against us."

"Uhm, I don't think so. I just understand why he's against us going out alone. It's really not safe."

"Oh bulls**t, come on it's a week before we're moving and you're denying that you have a crush on that jerk, when I can clearly see how you act when he's around. You know what, it's okay, I'll just tell him about it anyway."

"No Mya don't!" You can see how she also blackmailed me into telling her about my ridiculous crush, and that was the night I spilled the tea, probably all of it to my bff. She was cool with it though, as long as I swore he wasn't the reason for our friendship. How could he have been, when we met in kindergarten. She always had the cutest pigtails with pink ribbons in them, and one day my mother sent me with a ponytail that had a purple ribbon tied to it. Of course, I was the very shy one, so she walked up to me and pointed to my hair, "I like your ribbon, wanna be friends?" And that sh*t was as easy-cheesy as '1 2 3', we started sitting together and sharing each other's lunch. The rest is history.

We lost contact with one another a year after they moved, my phone fell in the pool and died a tragic death.

They moved to Brooklyn, and last time I heard of her she was happy they moved there.

Reminiscing over those good days made me realize that we could possibly never see each other again, with us staying here now. I had her and her dad's numbers memorized, hers, because we were bff's and his, because he made us study it for when we ever got lost somewhere or someone's phone was stolen. I called her once after my phone broke, but someone else answered and said never to call again. So I didn't, I also didn't know how she'd react after all this time, but I had her dad's number, just never used it. "Ruby! Breakfast is ready sweety, come down before your papi devours everything!" That was my mami ripping me from my thoughts, "Ai mami, give me a minute!" Oh yeah, I should've told y'all I'm half Mexicana, but I grew up English. My dad, however, made sure I never forget my roots...I know, somewhat disappointing, but these are the things my parents had to do in order to give me a close to normal life. My papi is Mexican, and my mami was this very hot and spicy coloured American woman who swept him off his feet.

I went down to our new and improved kitchen to join my parents for breakfast, "Mmm mami, this smells delicious! Good thing you called me, or I would've missed out on these goodies. Oh mami, do we still have that book we used to write our numbers in?" My mami gave me a knowing look, and smiled lightly while pointing to the shelf below the house phone. I couldn't finish my food fast enough. After breakfast, papi left for his first day at the new office, mami went to her laptop to check her emails and apply to some vacancies. I paged through the book, and found his number. I made my way outside to our backyard and dialed his number. . "Charles Andrews, Hello?" "Hello sir, you're speaking to Ruby. Do you..."

"Ruby?! Child is that really you? Oh how we've missed you so much, how are you sweet child?"

"I'm fine sir, how are you guys. I hope Mya wasn't too mad at me for not keeping in touch, my phone fell in the pool a little over a year after you left." "Well she's fine now, but she didn't take it well that time. I'm sure she got over it, I know she'll be over the moon to hear you phoned. Ruby child, I see you're calling from South Africa, now isn't that a coincidence. Did you guys move or...?" "Yes, we've very recently moved here. My papi got a job offer on this side, so we moved." I could hear in his voice that he was very happy to have heard from me and it made me teary.

"Why didn't you call me, it felt like I lost one of my kids when we moved away. Never do that again, okay?

- Okay sir.

- You should really come visit, seeing that you're so close to where we are.

- Close? Brooklyn is very far from SA, I don't think my par__ No man" I could clearly hear his chuckles from the other side of the line and it baffled me how he found my reasoning funny. "We're also located in SA child, more specifically Higgovale, Cape Town."

- "What?!! I thought you moved to Brooklyn."

-"We did, but after one year, we were transferred to SA and I now run our branch on this side of the world. You need to come visit soon, promise me you'll visit."

"I promise papi, but let me smooth things over with M first before making plans. Could you maybe give her number please?"

Of course!" He sent the number and we spoke a little more about his job and my parents before hanging up. He made me promise that I would visit them soon and I had no other choice but to.

After hanging up, I went back to my room to freshen up. Seeing that I had a few days before school started, I wanted to explore The Mother City . Wearing an ankle length red floral thin strappy dress with some white sneakers and a white crop top underneath the dress, I walked down the not so busy street to the nearest bookstore. Strolling with my headphones, listening to some little mix and singing along while enjoying the beat of confetti.

"All eyes on me,

soo VIP, all in my dreams..."

And there it was, walking across the street to the bookstore. "BEEEP!!!" Frightened, I sprinted over the rest of the pedestrian, I looked back to where I was almost run over by, a fire truck and what looked like a very familiar face staring back at me while they were hurriedly passing by. Confused by those eyes, I entered the store and went about my business. Before taking up one of their comfy chairs, I took a few books I thought looked interesting and started reading the first few pages of Bridgerton before paying for the books and leaving. I explored the town more, roaming through the streets and ending at the park. After a while, I headed home and walked passed the school I'd be attending soon. "So this is it, huh?" "Yeah, it is." Jumping at the sudden voice answering from behind me. "Oh uhm, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay, I just didn't expect anyone to answer back."

"I'm Brad. I'm a senior this year at the infamous Rocklands International School."

"I'm Ruby, I'll also be attending here in a few days. Nice to meet you Brad." "Likewise, well I gotta run. See you around, new girl." I couldn't help but smile at this cute guy, as he continued his jog, 'At least you know someone that goes here.' I continued walking home before it got dark. 'Wow, I've been out all day?'

I got home and mami prepared some lasagna for dinner, "Just in time mi'amor, come sit and tell me all about your afternoon ventures." We sat there enjoying our dinner and talking about my wonderful day.